Author's note: Sorry if I'm bouncing around a bit guys. I'm having trouble getting into anything. Hopefully this will be it!
Axel whistled to himself as he walked through the halls of bureaucracy, holding his paperwork. It was time for his yearly pilgrimage to the holy shrine. Most people wouldn't have thought of it that way. Most people would have been quietly swearing and trying not to sweat on their papers. The air conditioning was out again and it would be hours before it could be fixed, if then. Axel personally didn't think it would be fixed within the day. Maybe two or three.
The building itself was a shining beauty of chrome and high tech efficiency. Or rather, it should have been. But somehow, nothing had ever seemed to work right. Axel paused over a transparent section of the floor, looking down and admiring the view beneath him. The transparent steel had been a wonderful idea and if it had cost a fortune, so what? The government had gladly paid to show off their beautiful garden. Little did they know the pillars, ornamental fountain and carefully arranged flower beds formed a pattern of darkness that would have sent a feng shui expert into fits. The ambient misery around that seal was a constant prayer to the dark gods and Axel luxuriated in the heat and feelings of anger, despair and dull resignation that surrounded him. He made a gesture of reverence before continuing on his way. He really did need to get in line. As pleasant as the place was to his demonic senses, there was work to be done and he'd be enjoying a very long wait.
So it proved. The front counter had a ticker and when Axel pulled out a piece of paper from it, he saw he was number 666. A good omen. Glancing up at the clock he saw they were currently at 349. Even better. All the chairs were full and as Axel leaned against the wall, a small baby began to cry. All the others in the room quickly picked up the sound and Axel smiled, enjoying the reaction of all the adults in the room. It was beautiful.
It took over two hours for the overworked tellers to get to him. Axel presented his papers then waited again, a smile on his lips as a perspiring young woman did her best to fill out the forms on her computer quickly. She couldn't of course. Humans were actually quite resilient in the presence of the dark powers. Machinery, though, had no soul with which to withstand the seeping evil of the garden and the computer was brutally slow when it functioned at all.
"I'm sorry sir. The heat is affecting our computers." She apologized as she typed, which was a rather imaginative explanation for the problems. Axel smiled gently, soaking up her low level misery. "Here you are sir." She said with a real smile, handing him back his paperwork and a shiny new license. "And thank you sir. It's good to see a smiling face."
"Oh, I'm sorry about that." She frowned in puzzlement as Axel walked away, chuckling to himself at his private joke. He paused a moment more to look at the gardens then regretfully left the soul sucking sigil behind. It had been among his best work, getting the architects to move the pillars a few physically inconsequential but mystically significant feet to fulfill the requirements of the seal. It had earned him a commendation.
Raise a little Hell raise a little Hell, raise a little Hell! Axel lifted his eyebrows, pulling out his phone and flipping it open.
"Hello?" He regarded the boot on his car with mild disdain and snapped his fingers. The offending piece of metal vanished and he climbed in, peeling out with a fine disregard for pedestrians and other vehicles. A blue van swerved wildly to avoid him and Axel ignored the chaos that resulted except to make sure there was at least one fender bender that would tie up traffic for hours.
Hello Axel. The voice over the phone was smooth and heavy, reminding him of bitter honey and melting wax. Axel grimaced a little to himself, hearing it. He preferred to not hear from his boss at all. No contact meant everything was going fine.
"Hello Xemnas. What can I do for you?" He asked courteously. A dark chuckle answered him and Axel blinked at the tone to it. Over the years he'd learned to tell what Xemnas was feeling from the smallest of cues and the Superior was… excited?
Come to my office immediately. I have a special assignment for you. The phone went dead and Axel frowned, dumping it onto the seat beside him and weaving through traffic, managing to hit ninety miles an hour at times. A small part of his mind concentrated on the road as the rest of him puzzled over Xemnas' order. A special assignment and the Superior excited? What could it be? Something that would cause Axel endless problems, perhaps? There was no great love lost between them and Xemnas often took sadistic delight in putting the most unsavoury problems on his plate. But Axel could usually catch that immediately.
It took him less than a half-hour to reach the head offices. A beautiful skyscraper, it was in the most expensive part of town. The company was largely legitimate and specialized in food. Axel climbed out of his car, sneering slightly at the signs for NUTRA-eats. They were the newest company product and they did their job very well. A diet aide, the food supplied very expensive and contained no useful caloric content whatsoever, but created an illusion of fullness. The creation of it was helped along by the dark arts and it tended to promote destructive dieting. Too much of it could literally be fatal, but even Xemnas had to admit that it had a definite positive side. Many fat people had become pleasantly thin and greatly enriched the company, a transaction that pleased everyone. The demons found it vaguely distressing that one of their enterprises actually made people happy but they needed the cash flow.
Axel searched in his pockets and found his card, using it to get through the locked and sealed security door. Hexeri Corp was one of the worst places to work in the country. They chewed up and spat out the help like a human meat grinder and plenty of former employees had probably been tempted to try getting their own back. Losing a body wasn't much trouble for a demon but it did impede the workflow, hence the security. Axel paused to straighten his tie before heading past the front desk, assurance in every line of his body. He knew the value of his work to Xemnas and it far outweighed their little personal squabbles. He paused to give Xemnas' beautiful blonde secretary a gracious smile, but she only sneered and polished her nails.
"Larxene, love, have you heard what's going on?" Axel didn't expect to get any answers from the arrogant bitch but it was always worth a try. She surprised him by inspecting her nails for a moment, then actually answering.
"Not sure, but there's a baby in there. He asked if I knew how to comfort one and I told him I don't do babies. They managed to find some human bitch to help him." Larxene sounded completely indifferent but Axel stared, taken aback. A baby? That was wrong on so many levels. Xemnas was a bit old school in his attitudes and was more inclined towards eating babies than caring for them. Although that could explain the human. Axel shrugged to himself and knocked on the door.
"Enter." Axel pushed open the door at that curt command and saw the Superior watching with thinly veiled disgust as a slightly overweight woman in a dark brown business suit with frizzy brown hair cradled a little bundle of joy. Axel's eyes widened slightly as he recognized her. She was the vice president of marketing and a complete ball buster, the kind of cutthroat opportunist who rose in Hexeri like turds floating to the top of the water. But right now she was smiling and cooing at the baby in her arms. He was a precious little thing with beautiful golden hair and big blue eyes. Axel smiled, walking over and looking down at the baby. He was so cute and sweet and - "You feel the pull." Xemnas' voice broke him out of the trance and Axel suddenly realized he'd completely forgotten about his Superior.
"What is this?" He asked, awed. This just wasn't normal and now that he was thinking about it, he could feel the pull of angelic power. Angelic? No, not exactly. It was more neutral. Xemnas' voice interrupted his musings.
"He's the child of our master." Axel had been reaching for the child, to touch the soft golden hair when his hand froze. He turned to look at Xemnas, hoping the Superior would admit that was a joke. Unfortunately he was smiling, a tight, vicious smile. Axel could see the carefully restrained excitement on his face. "Axel, your work has been excellent. You excel in tempting both individuals and soiling large groups with evil." Axel swallowed and nodded. "The Master has chosen you for a great responsibility. It will be your duty to raise this child."
"Th-thank you Superior." Axel managed to say, concealing his dismay. Xemnas really thought he was delivering good news and Axel didn't want to let him know otherwise. He glanced at the VP but she was still completely lost in the baby. "It is a great honor." He managed to say that without choking on the words, but it was difficult. The implications were beginning to rattle around his mind and they were uglier than Larxene's personality. The VP didn't want to give up the baby but Axel snapped his fingers and her face went blank. He extracted the child from her unresisting arms and looked into big blue eyes again, being careful not to let the baby enchant him. "What is his name?"
"Roxas." Xemnas smiled again, that queer excitement in his eyes and expression. "Take bad care of him." Axel smiled back, managing to give it a predatory edge he didn't really feel. He nodded and left the room, looking down at the baby as he did. He ignored Larxene's questioning stare as he left the building. No one looked at him as he went or commented on the baby.
"God's balls and Satan's cock." Axel muttered to himself as he plopped the bewildered baby into the front seat of his car. It was an arrangement sure to give any police officer a raging fit, but he'd never had an auto accident in his life. Horses had been another story but he hadn't ridden one of the hell beasts in almost a century. Besides, the baby had protections of his own. "Well kid, looks like it's you and me. Maybe just me." He added as the baby blinked at him myopically. He looked so cute and confused but Axel wasn't going to fall for it again. "This is bad." Axel drummed his fingers against the steering wheel before putting the car into gear. He wanted to get Roxas home and in the nice, heavily warded and secured environment that was his apartment. Making better time than a drag racer, Axel screeched into the underground parking and found his spot by memory. Carefully lifting Roxas out he carried the babe up to his apartment.
Axel's apartment was a fitting home for a really stylish and sauve demon. Full of black leather and bright red accents, the furniture was all sinfully comfortable. Axel set the baby down on the sofa, watching as the boy seemed to snuggle right in, comfortable as a bug in a rug. Axel sat down on a leather recliner, leaning back and thinking. As a demon he should have been overjoyed by Roxas' birth. Most children like him were more like Rosemary's baby than anything useable to the dark side. This little imp was clearly something else, a potent little demon wrapped up in a fully human guise. He would not be bound by the restrictions real demons like Axel suffered under and his powers would be immense when he matured. This kind of birth was very portentous and meant an age was coming to an end. Or everything was coming to an end.
That was the possibility that really worried Axel. He would regret losing the 20th century, with all it's creature comforts and wonderful contraptions. But he could cope. He'd survived in ancient Babylon just fine and there was a certain attraction to barbarism. Sure, the whisky wouldn't be as good but it was fun being able to skin an enemy alive in public. And humans would reinvent distilling quickly enough. They were always so damn inventive when it came to things that were bad for them. Yes, he could survive another great flood. But what if this was the END? What if the final battle was nigh?
Axel did not like that thought at all. He knew Xemnas was absolutely looking forward to it but in Axel's mind, that was a recommendation against. The Superior was sure their side would win and wanted to bring the angels down to war. The thought in Axel's mind was and so what? If they did win the humans would all go to Hell and everything would be placed under the Master's dominion forever. Axel shuddered a little at the thought. Hell was endlessly exciting and challenging in the same way Hexeri corp was exciting and challenging. There was no decent booze, no good food and the damn luddites down below thought that a Wii involved pissing against a wall. He didn't want to think what they would do with a Wii mote.
And if Heaven won, what then? Axel shuddered again, even more strongly. He'd be listening to a dulcimer and harp forever. And he'd enjoy it. In Heaven, resistance was futile. There would still be no good booze and the angels also thought that a Wii involved pissing against the wall. Or at least they would have if angels pissed. There would be good food though, which was the one thing Heaven had over Hell. But Hell had some pretty good music.
Axel realized his thoughts were wandering and focused on the baby, who was starting to drift off. It was an incredibly cute sound and the redhead wondered if Roxas would always be this cute. If the baby had a theme Axel thought it would have been 'born to be cute'. It was almost disturbing. The son of Satan wasn't supposed to be a complete and utter cutie pie, was he? But then, that would make more subtle evil a lot easier. The redhead laced his fingers together, green eyes thoughtful as he considered what he should do.
He knew how to follow Xemnas' orders. It wouldn't have been the first time he'd raised a child in the service of evil. There was the obvious way… creating a cult and brainwashing the boy to believe the Satanistic creed. That was a bit old fashioned though. Then there was the crueler fashion. Victimize the child, brutalize him and use him in multiple guises until he hated people. Then show him his powers and teach him how to make the world pay. Axel smiled dreamily as he contemplated it. It would be fun using this little blonde. But that brought up another question. Did he want to fulfill his Master's orders? And how could he get out of it without paying a dreadful penalty? Axel looked at the child thoughtfully.
"Corruption." Axel mused aloud. He knew very well that the material plane had partially corrupted him. He loved being evil, he lived it, but he liked his creature comforts too well. He was an Olympic grade doer of dirty deeds but he wanted a shower in the morning and a good steak and a scotch at night. Speaking of which… he pushed himself to his feet and walked purposefully to the kitchen. Just as he was setting a steak into the pan he heard a thin whimper. "Ah shit." The baby might be the son of Satan but little Roxas still had to eat. Sighing, he opened the door to his refrigerator and found, not to his surprise, that it was full of baby food. Selecting a bottle of milk substitute he carefully warmed it in the microwave then tested it against his wrist. Blood temperature, although Roxas could probably take it hotter. "Modern conveniences make this so much easier." He murmured to himself as he flipped over the steak before going to feed Roxas. Axel picked up the child and tucked him into the crook of his arm, watching as Roxas immediately found the bottle and began to suck his food down. "Hungry little creature aren't you?" Axel asked but the blonde ignored him, intent on his nipple. "Hmm." Axel couldn't help but smile. Roxas was too cute. Making a snap decision, he decided to raise the boy very privately. He could indoctrinate Roxas at his leisure and do his best to corrupt the boy with the pleasures of the physical plane. When he was done Roxas wouldn't even consider ending the world.
After all, what boy could pass up a Wii?